Posted on Wednesday, 12th January 2011 by Forza Italian Football Staff

Over the course of the season there has been much attention paid to the continual dust ups between and manager . An aging Totti with declining skill is seemingly is unable to embrace the substitute role. The real reason for Totti’s limited play however is not Ranieri. Vucinic seems to have bust onto the world scene two seasons ago but those in the know were not surprised when the entire buzz started about the magical Montenegrin. Followers of the Serie A have known for years now the offensive threat that is Vucinic.

Born October 1, 1983 in Niksic Montenegro Vucinic’s talents were notice by hometown club FK Sutjeska Niksic and as a 16 year old Vucinic cracked the first team. Making nine appearances and scoring in four of them Vucinic helped Sutjeska to a fifth place finish after losing out on goal differential to FK Rad Beograd.

The 16 year olds performance in the 1999/2000 caught the eye of Pantaleo Corvino who was the Lecce Sporting Director at the time. In his first tow seasons with Lecce Vucinic was used sparingly, appearing nine times. However the end of the 2001/’02 season saw Lecce relegated to Serie B, the break Vucinic needed had finally arrived. In the second division Lecce had nothing to lose and everything to gain and with that in mind manager Delio Rossi elected to put more faith in the now 19 year old Vucinic. Logging the most first team minutes he had ever played Vucinic made it into 28 matches and Lecce were back in the Serie A the following year.

Two seasons later Vucinic put his stamp on the Italian game when he was partnered with another young up and coming talent, 18 year old, Valeri Bojinov. The pair terrorized defenses scoring a combined 30 goals, Vucinic with collecting 19 of those. What made this performance stand out even more was that Vucinic flourished under two managers in that season. Delio Rossi left in December of 2004 to become manager of Atalanta and Croatian manager Zednek Zeman was brought in. The peninsula was made aware of a budding star capable of shouldering the offensive load and capable of adapting to different approaches.

August 2006 rolled around and A.S. had seen enough and acquired Vucinic on a season long loan for €3.25m. Luciano Spalletti favored a lone striker formation and with Francesco Totti performing at his peak there was no place for Vucinic in his natural position. The talent of the Montenegrin was undeniable however. Spalletti knew that having a player as dangerous as Vucinic rotting on the bench was not in the best interest of the club or the player and Vucinic was deployed on the wings. By the end of the season paid €3.75m to Lecce for 50% of the forwards rights and eventually €12m for the other 50%.

Vucinic continued to rise to the occasion no matter what the circumstance. Position on the pitch whether centrally or out wide were no longer obstacles nor was the level of competition as Vucinic carried his play through to European competition. It was clear that there was no stopping him and by using every tool in his arsenal he was back in double digit league goals by the 2008/’09 season.

Under Claudio Ranieri since the third game of the 2009/’10 season Vucinic has found his way back into the point of attack. No Vucinic was playing more games in a central role than he ever had previously at Roma. Ranieri’s reward for his faith in the striker was 14 goals, including the one that began an unlikely run towards title contention in November 2009. The world was now wise to his talents and it seems every transfer window a new club is linked with Vucinic. Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and most recently Liverpool have all had interest in him but Roma would be wise to hang on to their star.

Without the flexibility and patience that Vucinic displayed upon arrival Totti has now found it difficult to crack the lineup now that Vucinic has managed to turn the tables on the Roma icon. With Marco Borriello beside him Vucinic is once again on his way to ten plus league goals and have a winnable Round of 16 tie with Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League. Vucinic has everything to succeed physically and mentally, there is no stopping the Montenegrin Menace.

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Author Forza Italian Football Staff  (550 Posts)


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